Ailene Smith has helped the Lincoln track & field teams win 13 national championships as an assistant coach. Smith, who joined the Blue Tigers in December of 2003, will begin her 21st season at LU in 2021-22.
As the main assistant coach for both the women's and men's indoor and outdoor track & field teams, Smith has coached athletes to more than 600 All-American awards. Smith helped lead the Blue Tiger women to the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championship during the 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015 indoor seasons and the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2019 outdoor seasons.
Smith has also been the main assistant for the LU men's track & field team, which won the 2016 MIAA Indoor Championship and the 2017 MIAA Outdoor Championship. The Blue Tiger men have also finished as the national runners-up twice under Smith's guidance, most recently at the 2017 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championship, and earned a third-place result at the 2016 NCAA Division II Indoor Championship. In 2018-19, the Lincoln men finished in the top-seven at both the NCAA DII indoor and outdoor championships. In 2019-20, meanwhile, the Lincoln men were ranked No. 1 in the country heading into the indoor national championship meet before COVID-19 concerns prematurely ended the season.
An integral part of Lincoln's successful track & field program, Smith has helped coach athletes to over 70 individual and relay national championships. Smith also coordinates the team's community service projects and, this past summer, helped begin the program's first-ever speed camp.
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Smith graduated from West Virginia in the spring of 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a minor in Business Administration. She was a tremendous talent for the track and field program, where she competed in the 400m, 500m, and 800m. As a junior in 2002, Ms. Smith was a member of the DMR which ran the second best time in the world. She earned All Big East, All ECAC and was a three time NCAA Division I All-American.
In 1998, Smith was second in the 800m (2:11.01) and first in the 1500m (4:33.00) at the CARIFTA Games. In 1998 she ran on the 4x800 relay that won the Penn Relays. Smith also won the 800m, 1500m and the 3,000m at the VMBS Boy’s and Girl’s Championship while attending Manchester High School.
During her studies at WVU, Smith served as an Assistant Coach with the West Virginia University Flyers, where she assisted in training mid-distance and cross-country teams. She also volunteered her services as a pre-educator for Caritas House Inc. Her duties included promoting HIV/AIDS awareness among African-American communities, conducting HIV/AIDS education sessions to address and encourage community members in AIDS awareness activities, and developing and implementing education sessions to fit various target populations.
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